Constitution needs to be improved, scholars say

Constitution needs to be improved, scholars say

JAKARTA (JP): Leading scholars Nurcholish Madjid and Deliar
Noer have seconded the call by human rights campaigner Adnan
Buyung Nasution for a revision of the Indonesian Constitution.

In a discussion marking the launch of a book by Buyung here on
Monday, both Nurcholish and Deliar said that the social, economic
and political changes which Indonesia has undergone have created
conditions in which improvements to the Constitution are
necessary.

Entitled Aspirasi Pemerintahan Konstitusional di Indonesia
(The Aspiration for Constitutional Government in Indonesia), the
new book was developed from Buyung's doctoral dissertation.

"It is high time for us to have the Constitution improved,"
Nurcholish told the large crowd of guests attending the book
launching. "That, however, doesn't mean that the state ideology
Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution have to be replaced."

Nurcholish, a lecturer at the Syarif Hidayatullah State
Institute for Islamic Studies, said that the Constitution needs
to be revised in order to better arm the nation to face social
and political change, particularly in the field of human rights
protection.

Deliar, who is known for his critical analysis of many
government policies, said there have been deviations from the
Constitution as it stands.

He said that polarization, in the form of undercurrents and
"uppercurrents", is occurring in various parts of the political
arena, from government institutions to mass organizations and
political parties.

The expression "uppercurrents" was coined a few years ago to
describe the initiatives of the political elite, while
"undercurrents" is used to refer to the often-opposing wishes of
society's lower layers.

Another speaker at Monday's discussion, political observer
Cornelis Lay, said that political reforms do not necessarily
improve political life, particularly if such reforms are
restricted to improving the mechanisms for human rights
protection.

"We have to also consider other factors, such as the existing
political culture," said to the lecturer at Yogyakarta's Gadjah
Mada University.

Lay said Indonesia's state ideology and Constitution are
adequate as they are.

"The formulation of values and norms covered in Pancasila and
the 1945 Constitution are more than enough to meet the increasing
demands for guarantees of the protection of the people's basic
political rights," he said.

In the book, which is subtitled "A Socio-legal Study of the
Indonesian Constituent Assembly, 1956-1959", Buyung says the
Constitution's conception of constitutional government is too
limited.

So far, he argues, a government has been considered
"constitutional" if it is run according to the Constitution or is
not run in contravention of the Constitution.

"This limited and strict definition is true, but it is not
enough to describe the essence of a constitutional government,"
Buyung says in the book. He argues that in some cases a
government may go against the Constitution as long as it does so
in the interests of the public.

The 400-page book provides a detailed analysis of the
Constituent Assembly, the first legislative body established
after Indonesia's first general elections in 1955. Buyung says
the Assembly has often been overlooked by historians of modern
Indonesia.

Buyung obtained his doctorate in constitutional law from the
Rijks University in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 1992.

About 1,000 people attended the book launching on Monday.
(imn)